This invention relates to the field of converged and non-converged telephone networks, and, more specifically, to providing a post-fix code in telephone office dialing plans to permit a calling party to select from one of a plurality of features or functions before the call is routed.
xe2x80x9cBeing in touchxe2x80x9d has become increasingly important for some people; i.e., doctors, business executives, attorneys, etc., who have a strong need to be reached wherever they are. Many of these people have a telephone for business, a telephone for home, a mobile cellular telephone for the car and/or a transportable telephone that can be carried around when not near one of the other telephones. Additionally, some professionals have multiple offices with a telephone in each office. Some people work at home and in an office at a business location, with at least one telephone at each location. Further, most professionals now have at least one fax machine, and many have pagers and voice mail. Usually, all of these telephone facilities have different telephone numbers. However, this requires the caller to know or look up multiple telephone numbers and frequently make multiple calls in order reach a person. Some services currently provided by telephone operating companies cause multiple telephones to ring in order to track down a given person. In these systems, each telephone still has an individual number but switching systems cooperate in order to cause ringing to one or more telephone either simultaneously or sequentially. See, for example, Harlow et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,901, which issued Apr. 27, 1993.
Increasingly, the telephone network is providing both voice and data services, whereas in the past these services were provided by separate networks. The resulting network is generally called a xe2x80x9cconverged networkxe2x80x9d. Converged telephone networks may use a packet network and/or a circuit switched network for all or part of the path. However, the path through packet networks may not provide the quality or privacy desired by a caller. Furthermore, calls initiated in a packet network may specify routing or service capabilities such as fax or data routing that cannot be handled by conventional telephony signaling. Such service parameters may require xe2x80x9cpacket onlyxe2x80x9d routing or cause the call to fail.
Therefore, a problem in the art is that there is no system to direct call handling or service destinations that the calling party (caller) may desire.
This problem is solved and a technical advance is achieved in the art by a system that recognizes xe2x80x9cpost-fixxe2x80x9d codes after directory numbers are dialed. Such post-fix codes provide the calling party with the ability to invoke features or functions before the call is routed. By use of a post-fix code (for example, *X or *XX) the caller may, for example, control routing of a telephone call. A plurality of destinations can be associated with the same telephone number, wherein the post-fix code can signal which one of the plurality of destinations that the caller wants. Advantageously, according to one embodiment of this invention, this system A may be implemented in an intelligent network wherein, when a post-fix code is received, a query is made of a centralized database to determine the call destination. Furthermore, if the user does not know the proper code, an audible menu is presented to the user by the destination switch-or alternatively by a centralized control point. Therefore, by use of a post-fix code, the caller signals to the switching network, which provides a system wherein a call can be delivered to a specific one of a plurality of destinations when all of the destinations have the same directory number.